I thought the sniffers were rather keen to impart err.... physical pressure on our blokes (a lot of marginally late, marginally high, borderline excessive stuff), and Acres is certainly doesn't back away from that stuff. I still think sides cling to the trope that we're soft but what I saw on Saturday Sunday suggests otherwise.
It would be unfair to say that our softer players were playing for St Kilda. Pitto certainly had his way with TDK though and I thought that he was looking forward to the final siren midway through the second quarter.
Lyon is never reluctant to resort to questionable tactics but their attempted physicality backfired, like most of Lyon's plans.
I don't think that we've ever been soft but there has certainly been a perception that we are. The addition of Ainsworth, Hayward, Florent, Dean, Byrner, Ison and Derksen has hardened us up.
I think that confidence plays a part too.
Highlight of the day was Byrner going straight through Cam Wilkie.
IMHO, weitering was hardly as dominant as made out.
He had two very poor efforts too which resulted in goals to the saints on Sunday.
1. He assumed a ball was going to carry over for a throw in, just to have a saints player shark it from behind him.
2. Another one where he turned it over in defense.
There was another one where he went the short option to ollie hollands who got caught holding the ball and it was more ollie being indecisive on the next kick than anything else.
Even so, i didnt think he played particularly well against a saints team that wasn't flushed with tall talent.
The Doggies arent overly tall, and our balance is as good as ever. Not sure we need weiters back this week, and would rather play charleson than weiters.
BT is definitely worse, because he has an anti carlton bias to him. Kane, whilst he is a bit of a flog, does it to sensationalise and be controversial and is more unilateral about it.
Well he and the bench were shown continuously throughout the game, more so than the farking game! So infuriating. The telecasts and commentary have just gotten worse and worse.
With an exception - Abbey Holmes is an absolute natural in her interviews with the players, she outclasses BT Reiwoldt and Hamish McL.
Did anyone hear BT say after Nas’ injury a snide remark about how the players weren’t able to warm up on the ground before the game - inferring the AFLW game gad somehow contributed to Nas’ injury 🙄 ffs so sick of these dinosaurs getting airtime.
Hmm, I wouldnt go too hard about that.
It may have been a valid concern that the warm up time is restricted, but the reality is, Nas injury was more likely caused by Walsh's push, in conjunction with structural weakness in his lower back, or over compensation from his latest hip woes.
At the end of the day, injuries are a product of luck, biomechanics, and the work (or absence of) done prior.
Asserting he is a dinosaur for not getting players warm up time is a bit rich. Its perfectly valid when you see them out there one hour before the bounce having a bit of a run around and general preparation.
Fraser is showing that rare ability, at Carlton in particular, to find where a player is best suited.
Cerra playing that quarterback type role and Franky delivery those spearing passes into the forward line for instance .Is Framky the best kick at the club?
What was a nice surprise to see was that Cripps sideways kick when going into the forward line. It shows to me that the skipper is leading the way and is listening to the coaches. We're not bombing it long to your Wilkies anymore. Fraser has found a way to stop that rubbish that crept in when we had both Charlie and Harry as targets.
We're a well drilled side now and playing to our strengths. I wont mention Wilsons field passing in the afterglow of such a pleasing win.
I saw what he was trying there (if its the kick I think). He had not much on, and was trying to bring Hayward central from the wing. His kick hooked a little, so it went right to left by a few metres, and that was why St. Kilda were able to chop it off. Degree of difficulty on it was quite high.
Besides that, Wilson generally takes on very dangerous kicks, and I would be loathe to discourage him from doing so.
Its refreshing to see us tighten up on the opposition analysis, but in game you can still see things get through ala Liam Ryan out the back of that contest at the start of the second quarter.
Personally, the biggest difference I can see, is that the boys are hunting in packs, and summing up situations better than we used to.
